


Childhood's End (the Hope on Fire remix)

by shobogan



Category: New X-Men: Academy X, X-Men (Comicverse)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-24
Updated: 2016-07-24
Packaged: 2018-07-26 12:21:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,983
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7573861
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shobogan/pseuds/shobogan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When her students need her most, the Phoenix wakes up.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Childhood's End (the Hope on Fire remix)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [likeadeuce](https://archiveofourown.org/users/likeadeuce/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Impossible](https://archiveofourown.org/works/68272) by [likeadeuce](https://archiveofourown.org/users/likeadeuce/pseuds/likeadeuce). 



Time slows down, when the buses explode.

At first, Noriko thinks it's just her. That it's all too much – the Decimation, Stryker preaching hate on the news, Dani leaving – and her mind just can't cope any more, and she really wasn't meant to be a leader at all.

Then she sees the wings in the flames. She thinks _this is impossible_ and _what if I'm wrong_ and _oh God I can smell them burning it's too late it's too late_ but none of that matters; she keeps running, into searing heat and jagged shrapnel.

None of it touches her, as she reaches Andrea. She tears away the smoking debris, cradling the younger girl in her arms. She shouldn't be alive, except she _is_.

Impossible, but it doesn't matter. All that matters is making it count.

Julian is right behind her, and his power tears the twisted steel apart as he dives into the bus. She sees him find Brian, but she doesn't have time to be relieved; instead, she turns her head and starts shouting.

"Santo! Get up!" He'd fallen to his knees behind them, stunned and stricken. "Start digging people out. Cessily, you can transform - " Cessily cuts her off with a nod, and her skin shimmers in the flames as she moves.

Julian has floated back with Brian in his arms, battered and singed but breathing, whole. Nori relaxes her hold on Andrea, and Julian lifts her without being asked.

"Get them to a safe distance, and then come back for the others." He just nods – no bickering, no posturing – and takes them away.

Josh is right next to her when she stands up. "I should heal them all first, I - "

She shakes her head. "They're not dying, Doug, just hurt. You've got time." She's not sure why she's suddenly so confident. "You should stay with them on the lawn. Where's X-23?"

Josh points, and Noriko sees her, tearing away burning debris. If they weren't being protected, she'd have ruined her hands ten times. "Huh. Okay." She takes a deep breath. "I'm going to help. Don't – don't go overboard, we're still going to need you."

She expects an argument, but _he_ just nods at her too. No one's even mentioned the fact that she's crying.

 

She knows as it happens that she's waking up too soon. She's not whole, not yet. All the same, her power soars away from her, towards the terror that woke her.

She's not strong enough to follow, not yet, but she doesn't have to. She can feel them, fighting to save their friends. All she has to do is keep the victims breathing, and shield their saviours. (She always knew that Julian had a hero's heart beneath all the bluster, and Cessily was stronger than she ever knew, and Sooraya's courage burned brighter than a star. It's Noriko that she connects to first, though, first and fully – the leader, as fraught and uncertain as Scott ever was.)

When she finally pulls herself into the starlight, it's all over. Bishop and Sam and Piotr are carrying the students inside as the rest of the faculty streams into the grounds. The sentinels are approaching, pilots sick with horror; they don't yet realise everyone has survived. Noriko and her team are unscathed but exhausted; they collapse together on the grass, ignoring the chaos around them.

The radiance of the Phoenix returns to her, nestling inside to smolder in her veins, but she remains ashen and ragged. Her clothes are her own, the uniform she was buried in, frayed and thin and stained with grave dirt. She's too weak to stand, let alone fly to the school.

_Jean._

She manages a smile. Of course he felt her.

_Hey, you._

There's a flood of desperate relief and aching confusion. _It's really you. God, Jean, I -_

_Shh. Focus on the students. They're going to be all right._

He wants to argue. He doesn't. Only when all of the kids are inside, safe and resting, does he dispatch Kurt to her headstone.

 

None of them sleep, that night.

They try, but as the hours tick on, they all trickle down to the common room. Cessily and Julian sit on one couch; Nori, Josh and Sooraya have the other.. Santo takes the armchair.

The fireplace was already blazing when Noriko got there; she suspects that it wouldn't hurt her, if she stuck her hand in.

None of them are talking, not yet. She feels like she should get them started, but she doesn't know how.

But maybe someone does. She concentrates, the way Miss Frost taught them -

 _Miss Grey?_ Crap, is it still Mrs.? _...Ms.? Professor?_ Her shoulders tense; she ignores the concerned look Josh shoots her.

Then there's laughter, warm and bright. _Just call me Jean, Nori._

 _Jean._ It feels weird, but it's nothing compared to the last few days. _I was – are you okay?_ She should ask that, right? None of them have seen her, since the attack.

 _I'm fine, sweetie._ If most people called her that, she would bristle. _Just tired. I'm sure you are, too._

_Yeah, but none of us are sleeping. But you knew that, right?_

There's a sense of ruefulness to the response. _I did. Are you warm enough?_

_Yeah. Cessily brought blankets._

_She's a good kid._

_They all are. Even Julian. ...Don't tell him I said that._

_My thoughts are sealed._

This is a lot less difficult than she thought it would be. She didn't know Jean Grey, really – she was still isolating herself, back then. Still more bitter and afraid and desperate than anything else, with no idea how to trust anyone. It was David, who really started to change that, David and Sofia and Dani -

Dani and Sofia are already gone. David is leaving.

_I don't know how to do this._

_That's okay. Some things you've got learn as you go._

Nori bites her lip, rubbing at the skin above her gauntlets. (Sleeker and lighter, but still constricting.) Cessily is staring at her own hands, glinting in the firelight again. Julian's gaze keeps flicking into the corner – oh.

"X – Laura." She tries to keep her voice soft. “You can come over.”

Laura hesitates, before stepping into the light. “You should be sleeping. Renewing your strength. There will be more attacks.”

"Thanks, Pollyana." Julian, of course, but there's no real bite to it.

"She's right." Noriko straightens; Josh shifts next to her, giving her room. “And we have to be ready. But we can't obsess over it. We've got to keep _living._ "

Laura looks confused. Of course she does; fighting and killing _was _her life, wasn't it?__

__And it wasn't right._ _

__"We saved them." She hasn't said it out loud, just in case somehow she was proven wrong. But they taught her to stop fearing hope, and she's not backing down now. "We can protect each other. Not because we're soldiers, or weapons, because we're _friends_." She remembers denying it, when Luna called the New Mutants that. She remembers _yesterday_ , when she wanted to strangle Julian in his sleep. "Those bastards - "_ _

__Oh, damn, Jean is probably still listening -_ _

___I've heard worse._ _ _

__“They're just cowards.”_ _

__Sooraya has sat up, too, eyes blazing above her veil. “All they have is hatred.”_ _

__“And bombs.” They all turn to glare at Santo, who shrugs._ _

__“He's not wrong.” Josh, at least, sounds apologetic._ _

__Nori smirks. “Yeah, well, we've got a Phoenix.”_ _

__

__As always, Emma holds herself like a queen, cool and imperious. She strides through the institute's halls like she owns them, because she damn well does._ _

__Most people would never realise she was soothing forty minds at once, dampening pain and muting nightmares._ _

__"You're going to make yourself sick."_ _

__Jean doesn't look all that well herself, leaning against the wall; she remains pale as a ghost, and her nightgown hangs off of her. That doesn't stop Emma from rolling her eyes._ _

__"I appreciate the concern, dear - "_ _

__"No, you don't. You're afraid."_ _

__Her lips curl. "You're welcome to continue recovering in the guest room."_ _

__Jean straightens, and Emma braces herself for a fight, the fight she always knew was coming, for daring to steal a goddess' place._ _

__But Jean smiles, wan and weary and warm. "It wasn't your fault. Everyone knows you just wanted to protect them. You're still Headmistress."_ _

__Something in Emma's chest constricts. She knows how stunned she must look, how _vulnerable_._ _

__Jean raises a hand, tapping her temple. "I'm not strong enough to help them. But I can help you." Her tone is steady, even as her legs begin to tremble._ _

__Emma rolls her eyes again, but there's a quirk to her lips, a wry sort of fondness. No, perhaps they aren't so different._ _

__"I _mean_ it, Emma, I - " Jean stumbles, then. Fortunately, no one is around to see the queen catch her._ _

__

__It's frustrating. Not just being stuck in bed after returning to a world gone madder, or the distance she feels from the people she loves most. In the White Hot Room, she knew exactly what her purpose was and how to go about it. All she had to do was become whole again._ _

__Back in Salem Center, she doesn't even know where to begin. There are one hundred and eighty mutants left. The mansion is being guarded by sentinels. Laurie has lost her arm, Jay his wings. Reverend Stryker is back on the warpath, and his Purifiers are just as ready to massacre children._ _

__Maybe it's a good thing she isn't at full power._ _

__She sighs, closing her eyes. She was able to save the students, but can she really _keep_ them safe? Is she giving them false hope? Will her presence do more harm than good, in the end?_ _

__There's a knock at the door; she at least has enough power to turn the knob and pull it open._ _

__“Danielle.” Her voice is warm. “Welcome back.”_ _

__

__Dani headed back to the Institute the moment she heard about the explosions, cursing herself and Emma Frost the entire way. There are no names being released, barely any details; she knows some of the students tried to save the victims, and she _knows_ her kids must have been involved. Josh could kill himself, straining too hard._ _

__She knew she'd be greeted by sentinels on the grounds. She figured she could talk her way in, but it's not working, and she's _this close_ to climbing up a giant robot and tearing out the pilot._ _

__But she doesn't have to._ _

__"Let her in, gentlemen." Loudspeaker. They probably have psychic protections._ _

__"Listen, Frost - "_ _

__Emma's voice turns sharp and cold. If it were telepathic, Dani is pretty sure it'd slice into their minds like a knife. “I am in no mood for your posturing. Let her in, or - “_ _

__"No threats, remember?" There's Scott, sounding wry and weary. He probably hasn't slept since the attack. Hell, since the Decimation._ _

__Then his voice turns hard. "Danielle is still one of ours. And you've probably noticed losing our abilities doesn't protect us."_ _

__She can't help but grin through the bitter frustration. That's Xavier-level guilt tripping, right there._ _

__It works, too. She braces herself for the worst news as she steps into the mansion._ _

__"Just tell me."_ _

__Scott and Emma share a look, before smiling._ _

__They have to explain several times, before it fully registers. They didn't lose anyone. They're all recovering. They're all safe._ _

__The first thing she intended to do was check on her students; instead, she takes a detour._ _

__Seeing Jean there, it feels like a dream. They were never close, but she remembers Marvel Girl being strong and kind and steady in the wake of the Inferno, remembers Phoenix defending the school from the U-Men._ _

__She finds herself blinking hard, before she can speak._ _

__"I – thank you."_ _

__"Thank _you_. These kids are amazing, Dani."_ _

__Well, she's got to grin at that, even as she wipes at her eyes. "Yeah. Yeah, they are."_ _

**Author's Note:**

> Childhood's End is taken from the story arc in New X-Men, and Hope on Fire is a Vienna Teng song.


End file.
